Chautauqua students celebrate Latinx History Month

Published 1:30 pm Tuesday, October 4, 2022

In recent weeks, many of the teachers at Chautauqua Elementary School (CES) have integrated celebrations of famous Latin American artists and persons in classrooms to help recognize Latinx Heritage Month, which runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

“We might be a monolingual society, but we are not a monocultural society,” said Spanish Arts teacher Victoria Elizondo-Hopper. “For my Latino kids and my Hispanic kids to see themselves reflected [in] people who became astronauts or Nobel Prize winners, I can see the pride in their eyes.”

At the end of every month, Elizondo-Hopper engages in heritage activities with her students, and during Latinx Heritage Month, she has introduced students to “Personas Famosas” — Latin American individuals including activists and labor leaders Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, Supreme Court judge Sonia Sotomayor, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, physicist Luis Walter Alvarez, and many others.

“The boys love learning about Roberto Clemente, the baseball player, and the fifth graders all love “Hamilton” and are amazed by Lin Manuel Miranda,” said Elizondo-Hopper, with a laugh.

For Chautauqua art teacher Tara Brenno, Latinx Heritage Month is also an opportunity to broaden her students’ awareness of different artists and their cultural heritages.

Outside her classroom, her art board for the month now highlights many famous Latin American artists, including Frida Kahlo as well as contemporary artists such as Rafael López and Justin Favela. During the month, she taught students about artists listed on the board, and then led her students, in grades two through four, through a project based on the work of Jaime Gili, a Venezuelan-born visual artist.

“I like to highlight different artists, and Latinx Heritage Month is a great way to introduce artists the students might not know about,” said Brenno. “It is really important for all students to see and celebrate what artists of color and different abilities are producing.”

In the 2020-2021 school year, Latin American students represented just over 13 percent of the entire student population throughout Vashon Island School District (VISD), with CES’s population at 16.6% of students.

In addition to providing visual representation for those students, Elizondo-Hopper hopes highlighting heritage spurs all students to learn more about themselves.

“Taking time to highlight heritage expands the students’ minds,” said Elizondo-Hopper. “When I open up a discussion on heritage in my classroom, the students want to tell me who they are. They go home, ask their parents, find out about their ancestors, and find out more about themselves.”